Phoenix FD 1.2 rendered with VRay 2.00.02
Deadline 4.1 SP1, 3ds max 2011 x64, Vista Business nodes
I’m wondering if this is a known issue with Phoenix and Deadline. Every frame comes out black, whether or not the VRay VFB is used, and whether or not it’s set to render to .vrimg files. Local renders are fine, and non-Phoenix VRay renders are fine on the farm.
Can you post a render log from a Phoenix job that was rendered with Deadline? We can take a look to see if anything stands out.
Also, do you know if the Phoenix plugin is installed and licensed on all the render nodes? Have you tried rendering from the command line or in interactive mode on a render node without Deadline being involved to see if the problem is specific to Deadline?
This is the first we’ve heard of a problem with Phoenix and Deadline, so that either means there usually isn’t a problem, or no one else had tried it yet. 
Cheers,
Here’s the render log:
0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Job already loaded: PlasmaCloud_r00_v08
0: Plugin rendering frame(s): 478
0: INFO: Render Tasks called
0: INFO: Lightning: Render frame 478
0: INFO: Lightning: Overriding save file option to 0
0: INFO: Lightning: Rendering frame W:\SF_Lightning~Renders\3D\cloud\v08\cloud_v08_0478.exr
0: INFO: Lightning: Setting up render parameters
0: INFO: Lightning: Rendering camera node Camera001
0: INFO: Lightning: Checking multipass info for frame 478
0: INFO: Lightning: Opening renderer
0: INFO: Lightning: Multipass disabled
0: INFO: Lightning: Rendering 1 passes
0: INFO: Lightning: Checking output paths
0: INFO: Lightning: Checking default actions
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_EXTERNAL_FILES = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_UVWS = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_DLL_FILES = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_XREF_FILES = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: Calling renderer
0: INFO: Preparing tone operator.
0: INFO: Preparing camera sampler…
0: INFO: Preparing objects
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps…
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps ()
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps (fine displ)
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps (20 - Default)
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps (Map #1)
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps ()
0: INFO: Loading bitmaps (): done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Updating objects
0: INFO: Updating object (PhoenixFD001)
0: INFO: Updating object (PF Source 01)
0: INFO: Updating object (Simulator01)
0: INFO: Updating object (Cylinder01)
0: INFO: Updating object (Cylinder01): done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Updating instances
0: INFO: Updating instances (PhoenixFD001)
0: INFO: Updating instances (PF Source 01)
0: INFO: Updating instances (Cylinder01)
0: INFO: Updating instances (Cylinder01): done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Preparing lights
0: INFO: Preparing lights
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight001)
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight002)
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight003)
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight004)
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight_inner)
0: INFO: Preparing lights (VRayLight_inner): done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Preparing atmospherics
0: INFO: Preparing render effects
0: INFO: Compiling scene geometry
0: INFO: Compiling geometry (PhoenixFD001)
0: INFO: Compiling geometry (PF Source 01)
0: INFO: Compiling geometry (Cylinder01)
0: INFO: Compiling geometry (Cylinder01): done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Preparing ray server…
0: INFO: Building static raycast accelerator…
0: INFO: Building static raycast accelerator…: done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Building motion blur raycast accelerator…
0: INFO: Building motion blur raycast accelerator…: done [00:00:00.0]
0: INFO: Preparing direct light manager…
0: INFO: Preparing global light manager…
0: INFO: Lightning: CallCurRendererRenderFrame returned code 1
0: INFO: Lightning: Render done
0: INFO: Lightning: Checking render elements
0: INFO: Executing Post Task Script: T:\Scripts and Extensions\Deadline\vrimgConvert\vrimgConvert.py
0: INFO: Script executed successfully
0: Render time for frame: 9.768 s
0: Total time for task: 10.196 s
Log Date/Time = Jan 28/11 09:08:27
Frames = 478-478
Slave Machine = Render-i7-04
Slave Version = v4.1.0.43205 R
The return code of 1 seemed suspicious (unless that’s Deadline’s way of saying things are “normal”), but there were no crashes or errors visible. I started a couple slaves in GUI mode and babysat them while they rendered, and I can see the buckets rendering, but they’re just rendering black. The sim data is all centrally located and visible to all the nodes.
Thanks for the log. The return code of 1 represents success (this is what 3dsmax’s internal SDK function that we use to render returns on success).
I noticed that you’re currently ignoring all errors related to missing external files, uvws, Dlls, and xrefs:
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_EXTERNAL_FILES = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_UVWS = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_DLL_FILES = IGNORE
0: INFO: Lightning: TYPE_MISSING_XREF_FILES = IGNORE
Ignoring Dlls can be problematic, because if the node is missing plugins that it needs to render, those errors will be suppressed. For testing, I would suggest not ignoring any of these errors and try rendering again to see if you get an actual error.
Cheers,